#no they must have loved you very dearly. do you know what your name means?

[digiships]

wait ok befoee i take a nap i think kaz'rith and astarion end up in the kind of friendship where kaz is often woken by astarion in the dead of night bc he either cant sleep or was woken up by a nightmare and he holds him close and kisses the top of his head and murmurs elvish lullabies to him or tells him stories of his life to help soothe him. bc in kaz's eyes he's still just a boy. he's still just a little star.

[velaenaa]

strawberry chocolate parfait \ nanami kento x reader (ch.1)

word count: 1.1k tags: slight slow burn, pining, romance, fluff, added as i go! setting: you are a worker at a bakery that nanami kento frequents ♡ authors note: hello ^_^ i hope you are doing wonderful! this is my first time writing for nanami. pls enjoy! chapter: 1/? <next>

Chapter 1 - Vanilla Cake

‘Does this guy need help….?’

‘He’s staring real hard at the bread…. Omg- is it ugly? Aw hell- I made that this morning…’ 

Your thoughts were cut off by the towering figure of a man, with two loaves of baguette in one hand and one container of cake, that happened to be your favorites, in the other. You smile up at him, “Will this be everything?” He gives a stiff nod, locking his eyes with yours, then you giggled; “Then.. I guess I'll bag-uette up for you..” 

No? No reaction..Damn, tough crowd.. 

He thanks you and you bid him farewell and to come back soon. You could’ve sworn he almost smiled… maybe that was a look of irritation..?

After he leaves eyesight, You make haste by sitting down behind the counter, face flushed with embarrassment and agony. It made you cringe. Why would you say that? Your coworker giggled at you, making sure to add salt to the wound, “You tried.. That’s all it matters.” she gives you a head pat and continues,  “He’s a regular here. He’s probably gonna come back in another couple of hours on his way home or something.”

“Then how come I’ve not seen him before?”

“Dunno.. He’s been away for a couple months now.” 

“What’s his name?”

“You should ask when he comes back.”

“Isn’t that weird?”

“Oh but asking some other random person, who doesn’t know him at all, by the way, isn’t weird?”

She has a point.

You looked down at your phone and idly texted your friend Nobara about your day and fashion related topics. 

You met when Nobara came down to the bakery to get some pastries for her boyfriend. You hit it off right away due to shared interests, albeit you being 7 years older. Nobara enjoyed having an older sister with an affinity for style, love for shopping, and interest in all the cool girl stuff that Maki wouldn’t normally talk to her about. 

Right now you two are discussing weekend plans. Nobara and her boyfriend Yuji, along with Megumi, and their teacher Gojo were going to a karaoke room cause it had been a while since Gojo had gone out with his students. He was stuck on oversea assignments for the past couple of weeks and he dearly misses them, or so he says. As always, you had been invited and of course you said yes! 

You are very fond of the kids and Gojo. The 3 of them reminded you of your siblings back home, and well- Gojo is Gojo. Plus, if you had declined, Gojo would pester you non-stop. 

-

After a mini rush, you sit  down, tired, ready to bite down into your sandwich, when on queue, the door swings open, revealing the tall blonde man, taking his glasses off as his eyes pierce you again. You wave at him and he just nods. You get a bag ready as the man collects another slice of the same cake he had bought earlier. He also got another dessert, this time, a small vanilla custard tart w/ fruits on top, made by yours truly. He comes up to the counter, and you stiffen up  in shyness, “Is this everything for you?”

The man looked tired, but he let out a soft, yet stern ‘yes.’

As you rang up his order you looked back up to him, your lips curling into a small grin, “How was work?” This caught them both off guard, “Oh- I didn’t- I didn’t mean to assume-” I mean.. Unless this guy enjoys walking around in a whole business suit for funsies.

He actually lets out a chuckle, “It’s okay. It was a busy day.” 

You both stayed silent for a second before he asked in return, “How was your day, miss?” This made you feel warm and your smile only got bigger, “It was wonderful! I got to serve a lot of customers. They bought their kids in. It was so fun.”

‘And cause you came into the shop twice.’

“Ah sorry.. I’m trailing. I didn’t mean to ramble- you must be dying to get home.”

‘No, I could get used to listening to you.’  is what he wanted to say;

Instead he lets out a relieved sigh, “It’s alright. I’m glad you had a good day today.” This caused your cheeks to tint red. Dying from embarrassment because you just knew that your coworkers were listening in, she redirects the topic, and points at the cake, “Do you like those?” He nods again, “They’re the best I’ve ever had. Compliment the baker for me.” Oh your heart, you could hear it beating so hard from your chest. 

You do a mental fist pump before clapping your hands with glee, “Oh I’m so glad you liked them!” You go around the counter and grab another slice just for him. You stared up at him in absolute awe, because behind the counter was elevated by at least a foot. 

This man was tall, as hell. 

He just looks down at you eyeing your move. You push the cake towards him even harder, “This one is on the house!” He tilts his head in question. You double down and nod your head, affirming the choice. He grabs hold of the cake with one hand, “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

‘Ask for her name Nanami’ He repeats to himself in his head

“What is your name?” She beats him to the punch. 

‘Have you lost your touch?’-- “Nanami”

“I really like your name. It’s beautiful! My name is Y/N.”

‘Y/N, huh.. What a nice name..’

You give him his bag as he recollects his thoughts, “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve got to get going. Work” You shoot him one last smile before waving him off, “Thank you for coming! It was nice to meet you! Don’t work too hard!”

An hour goes by and it's time for the bakery to close for the night. You turn the lights off as the ladies load up the delivery car with food that wasn’t sold for the day so they could give it to the local kitchens and homeless shelters. You bid your coworkers farewell before hopping into your car and collecting yourself, before driving home.

After you get home you jump into bed, eager to text Nobara. 

[Txt]  Y/N - “I met such a cute guy today!”

A second later there’s an audio msg from her of Gojo;

[Voice Recording] “Wahh?! Y/N I wasn’t there today!”  in a whiny bit.

You laugh as Nobara actually sends a text;

[Txt] Nobara - “Tell me all about it when you come to karaoke… matter of fact, he should come!”

But you just met.. How are you going to pull that off… and will he even want to go is the better question… what if he thinks you’re weird … oh lord… so many overthinking possibilities.. Ok but what if he actually says yes?

[Txt] Y/N- “Are you sure?”

[Txt] Nobara  - “Yeah! Gojo-sensei is paying anyway.”

[greenbergwrites]

missing alpha daddy james dearly. would love to hear your thoughts on how he and stevie would approach their heat/rut, or oh my i would kill to read their bonding

This one's been in my head for like 3 days straight and I have like 4 other things I need to be working on, BUT I WROTE THIS INSTEAD

--

Like, let’s say in this ‘verse that Alphas are just a step above feral when they’re in rut. They’re so clouded by instinct and need that they can’t even remember their own names.

Alpha Daddy Bucky, he would be afraid to subject his baby to that. His perfect boy, who’s so fucking innocent and sweet—too sweet to handle an Alpha in rut.

Maybe an Alpha normally goes into rut 2-3 times a year. When the symptoms first start, you can take medication that will suppress it, but that’ll only work for up to 3 cycles. Any longer and it’ll be dangerous.

So at the start of their relationship, Bucky decides that’s what he’s going to do. The first year of their relationship, he never goes into rut.

And then that year is up and the next time he feels the symptoms start, he knows he has to go through with it. Steve has grown so much in that time. He’s flourished, a boy now confident in his needs and his place, but he’s still too sweet.

Bucky makes the necessary arrangements. Makes sure that everyone knows what’s coming and that they’ll need to guard his den and Steve to make sure his baby stays safe while he’s indisposed.

He doesn’t tell Steve. Steve will want to sacrifice himself to Bucky’s needs and Bucky won’t let that happen.

And then his rut comes.

He loses all sense of self, everything down to his name, until the only thing left is the animal inside.

The Alpha paces his den. He’s naked and sweating, his cock heavy and aching between his legs. He’s furious.

He wants to mount. To fuck. To knot.

There are toys littering his den just for that, but he hates all of them. He tried, but none of them satisfy the need clawing at his insides.

He needs someone with him. Someone to submit to his needs. Needs a mate. His mate.

Does he have a mate? He can’t remember, but the idea makes his cock pulse, precome dripping from the tip.

A mate would satisfy him. The toys don’t have a scent, they don’t submit. They just are. 

He breaks more than one of them in his anger. He breaks everything, trashing the room in a fit of rage that stems from having so much energy—so much hunger, so much need—and having no place to put it.

It could be mere hours he spends alone. It could be days, years, a millennia. Time has no true meaning in his need, because every fucking second without relief is a cut underneath his skin.

Somewhere in the monotony of his pain, the door to his den opens and a little figure slips through.

The Alpha stops, breathing hard as he glares at the intruder.

It’s an Omega. A very small, very pretty Omega, barely older than a pup. The boy wears a comically large shirt tucked into a small skirt, carrying a teddy bear underneath one arm. The shirt has the Alpha’s scent on it—it’s his shirt, he’s sure of it, and his mouth goes dry. 

The Omega shuts the door behind him, turning to glare at the Alpha.

“You are in so much trouble, Daddy,” he says in a furious whisper. “I’m so mad at you.”

Daddy.

Is that the Alpha’s name? It must be. The moment it falls from the pup’s lips, his gut tightens, his aching cock throbbing fiercely. His body likes that name. He wants to hear it again.

Still, the pup’s glare and his stance, fists perched on his tiny hips, is too much a challenge for an Alpha in rut.

The Alpha glares harder, snarling a warning at the pup. This is his territory, his den. He’ll abide no challenges here.

The boy blinks, cocking his head to the side. His hands leave his hips, coming up between them, palms out. He steps forward cautiously.

“Okay, Daddy,” he says softly. “I’m sorry.”

Before the Alpha can snap at him again, the pup folds himself neatly at the Alpha’s feet. The Alpha barely has time to notice how pretty he looks kneeling there, his tiny little skirt fanning over creamy pale thighs, before the pup takes the Alpha between glossy pink lips.

The Alpha groans, panting heavily as he watches the pup bob on his cock. The boy’s posture is relaxed, his scent contented, his warm, wet mouth gentle and hungry in equal measure. His gaze is lowered respectfully, never meeting the Alpha’s. 

It isn’t sex. It’s submission. The pup is submitting to him, totally and completely, and for the first time since the haze of his rut took over, the Alpha settles.

It’s dangerous for anyone to help an Alpha through their rut, because this is what’s required. Total submission. An Alpha in rut craves to assert dominance. 

The Alpha palms the back of the pup’s head, his fingers sliding through silky smooth hair.

“More,” he commands, his voice rough and gravel-deep as he tilts his hips. The hand on the pup’s head growing heavier.

The pup has offered submission with his warm mouth, but will he continue to submit when the Alpha dominates him? Or will he fight, challenge the Alpha?

He doesn’t challenge. He goes easily, sinking further onto the Alpha’s cock with a weak little moan. The Alpha groans again, his head tipping back as the pup continues to submit.

This is what he craved, what he needed. This is why the toys did not satisfy him, why they were an affront to his senses. Toys cannot be dominated. They cannot submit.

The Alpha’s chest rumbles with a deep, satisfied growl. His chin touches his chest, heavy-lidded gaze on the pup at his feet.

His knot aches. He’s going to put it in the pup’s mouth. Come with his knot behind the boy’s teeth and his cock in that pretty, slim throat. He’ll make the boy take it.

But not yet. The boy looks so pretty at his feet, and some distant part of him knows that if he rushes it, he’ll hurt the pup. He doesn’t want to hurt the pup.

So instead, he stands there and accepts the pup’s submission as his due, and tells himself that if he’s patient, he’ll be rewarded.

He doesn’t know how long they’re like that before the door bursts open.

The Alpha looks up, glaring at the two men hovering in the doorway, but they’re not looking at him.

“What are you doing in here?” One of them hisses frantically. “Come back here, you can’t be here, the boss will kill us.”

The Alpha’s hackles rise. They want to take the pup away from him. 

They won’t get him, not this pretty boy who submits so easily. If they try—if they even think of touching the pup—the Alpha will kill them both.

Before the Alpha can answer, or the rage can take over, the Omega pulls away from his cock. He turns his head to glare at the two men.

“Go away,” he says, somehow firm and pouting at the same time. The Alpha’s cock throbs at the sight of that plump lower lip glistening in the low light. “I’m not leaving Daddy, he needs me.”

Daddy. That name again. God, his body likes that name. His cock bobs, smearing precome over the Omega’s cheek.

“He said—”

“I don’t care what he said,” the Omega says, glaring. “I’m not leaving my Daddy.”

Irritation flares inside the Alpha. The boy had been so pliant before, but now he’s dangerously close to challenging again and it’s purely the fault of the interlopers. 

The Alpha forces two fingers into the pup’s mouth, hooking behind his teeth and pushing down until those pretty lips are open again. He guides the pup’s face back to him.

“Submit,” he demands roughly, all but shoving his cock back into the pup’s mouth.

He lets go of the boy’s jaw only to palm the back of his head again, gripping him tight and keeping pressure there so the pup can’t pull away again.

He pushes his cock deep and repeats, “Submit.”

Blessedly, the pup does.

This time, the Alpha rolls his hips to meet the boy’s eager mouth, fucking himself good and deep. The pup clutches at his thighs, moaning every time the Alpha’s cock hits the back of his throat.

He wanted to wait. He wanted to savor the pup’s submission. But he’s been challenged too much and the interlopers—they want to take the pup.

The Alpha pushes his cock into the boy’s throat and knots his mouth.

The boy shivers at his feet, making weak little noises as his throat convulses around the Alpha’s cock. His eyes roll into the back of his head and a moment later, the scent of his release reaches the Alpha’s nose.

God, the little pup likes it. Likes to be dominated so completely.

He’ll be lucky if the Alpha ever takes his knot out after this.

When the peak of his orgasm as faded, the Alpha looks back to the door. The men haven’t left.

He sneers.

“My knot is in his throat,” he tells them. Well. Close enough. “Will you try to take him now?”

They know they can’t. Even if they were brave enough to get so close—which they clearly aren’t—trying to take the pup now would hurt him.

He gives it a beat, letting that knowledge sink in, before he growls, “Leave.”

It’s clear the interlopers don’t want to do that, not without the pup, but they have no choice. They leave.

They come back, but they never get the boy.

Not when the little one is astride his hips, the Alpha’s cock buried deep in that tight, lithe little body. The pup’s shoulders hunched and the bear still under his arm, one hand braced against the Alpha’s chest as he hangs his head and cries.

“I don’t like it this way, Daddy,” he whispers. “Don’t make me.”

The Alpha knows. He realized that the moment he laid on his back and pulled the boy on top of him, could smell it in the little one’s scent.

The Alpha grips his small hips tight and demands, “Submit.”

The boy does, riding his cock as he sobs. The pup loves it and hates it, that much is clear. The Alpha only loves it. Loves the distress on the pup’s face, the tears dripping onto his bare chest, the tight hole milking his cock so perfectly, but most of all, he loves the pup’s submission. His obedience.

Distantly, he hears the door to his den open. This time, it doesn’t open all the way, just enough for more voices to float through.

“How the fuck did he get in there?”

“I don’t know—”

“You were supposed to make sure that doesn’t happen, you idiots—”

“God, the boss is going to kill us.”

“Ya think?”

“We have to get Steve away from him before he gets hurt, keep watch until you see an opportunity.”

The Alpha is irritated again. Not just from the intrusion, nor the distraction from the perfect picture of a distressed pup on his cock.

No, he’s irritated that they think he would hurt the pup. This lithe, delicate creature, so fine-boned that it would take no strength at all to break him. 

He needs to dominate the pup—needs the pup to submit to him, totally and completely—but he would never hurt the pup. Just the idea threatens to soften his cock, which should be impossible in his state.

He gathers the boy to him, rolling them until the Alpha is on top of him now. He draws himself out of the pup’s hot, tight body before snapping his hips, burying himself to the hilt.

The pup comes, but still the Alpha doesn’t stop.

He rubs his body along the boy’s, sliding their skin together until their scents mix completely, fucking him hard because that’s what his instincts demand.

“Submit,” he murmurs to the pup, licking up the boy’s tears. “I won’t hurt you, pup, I just need you to submit.”

The boy makes a soft little noise, lithe fingers gripping the Alpha’s face and bringing him down for a needy kiss. When their lips part, the pup looks up at him with open, naked trust.

“I know, Daddy,” he whispers. “Even if you don’t. Even if they don’t. I know. You would never hurt me, not even like this.”

And what can the Alpha do but knot the pup after that?

[always-a-king-or-queen]

there are literally so many reasons why we don't need a third Narnia adaptation

first of all, while they might not be the most accurate, the Disney movies are actually so good and, in my opinion, still manage to capture the heart and soul of the series and what it's truly about. The characters are each perfectly portrayed; the Pevensies act like actual siblings and yet love each other dearly and would die for each other even through all the petty arguments; the music creates perfect atmosphere and emotion and never fails to make me tear up or get shivers down my spine; and the CGI is honestly just absolutely stunning.

I really do not feel like we need another adaptation by Netflix.

Especially not through Netflix.

Netflix has already been known to mess up so many shows and movies by completely changing the source material or adding in unnecessary things that completely take away from the purpose of the story. I can already see them warping Narnia into something that barely even resembles the books, that strips it of its purpose and simply makes it about a fantasy world, nothing more. I've already seen posts saying that the new movies just can't end the way the books end, that heaven must be explained away, that Susan never forgets and falls down a dark path, that the faith aspect must be taken out so as not to offend new viewers.

Here's the thing.

If you take faith out of Narnia, you remove the very heart of the series. you remove the entire purpose. Because Narnia is entirely about faith, and trust, and Someone greater than yourself who sacrifices everything to save your own traitorous soul. the Disney movies did not shy away from portraying this faith as openly as possible. if anyone was offended, I've never seen proof. I have seen many nonbelievers talk about how much they were affected by Aslan's death, which goes to show that you simply don't have to be Christian to understand what Narnia is about, and to love and enjoy it.

So if these new remakes remove the faith aspect, then what is the point? four siblings go to a magical land and save it from a witch and befriend a talking lion with nothing special about him and live there as kings and queens and return home and live happily ever after? there is no sacrifice, there is no "he's not tame, but he is good," there is no creation, there is no redemption, there is no last battle, there is no "in your world, I have another name", there is no sister straying down a dark path because she has forgotten how to hope, and then returning because her story is unfinished and the road to heaven is paved with flowers that symbolize her name.

so then, what are you left with? Aslan is just a talking lion, nothing more. the stone table never cracks, the sun never rises. "That by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there" is forgotten entirely, because why would Aslan exist in our world if he is merely a talking lion in Narnia? Aslan's country is changed to be something else, and there is nothing about how Aslan suddenly no longer looks like a lion, and how the things that happened after are more great and beautiful than can be described. Edmund's life is never threatened because of his traitorous deeds; Aslan never offers his own life in place of a guilty boy, is never killed, is never resurrected.

the very core of Narnia is removed, and what you are left with is emptiness.

sure, it might make for a good fantasy story nonetheless. you might still have sweeping views and epic music and an intriguing plotline, but something will always feel like it is missing. like there is an empty hole, desperately needing to be filled.

of course, I don't know that all of that will happen; it's just speculation at this point. But I am fairly sure that it is safe to predict these upcoming movies as such. I highly doubt the producers will want to include the faith that shapes Narnia, because according to them, having a faith aspect means less viewers since too many people would be offended.

but if only they would look at the already wonderful existing adaptations, they would know that is simply not the case.

[shall-we-die]

╔‌‌‌‌•°🎶༄•°══════════•⊰•°༄༚

{Lovely Boyfriend}

General Boyfriend Headcanons.

#NSFW (Fyodor) || #NSFW (Nikolai) ||

#NSFW (sigma)

╞•⊰❖⊱•═══•༻💜༺•═══•⊰❖⊱•╡

↬[Fandom]•⊰ {Bungo Stray Dogs}࿐

↬[Characters]•⊰↴

{Fyodor Dostoevsky || Nikolai Gogol || Sigma}࿐

↬[Warnings]•⊰ {None}࿐

☰[Main list]•⊰ ────┈┈{0008}┈─╮

╭──────┈┈┈┈┈───────╯

╰┈➤Likes/Reblogs are appreciated࿐

╚•°🎶༄•°══════════•⊰•°༄༚‌‌‌

• Fyodor as your boyfriend would be loyal, dedicated, observant, caring. He's quiet and calm, but can be very strict. He would constantly observe your every movement, while being careful not to be creepy.

• He's very charming, smooth talker, but is also very possessive. He wants you to always belong to him and only to him. He's the only person that you should love and you shouldn't show any affection to anyone other than Fyodor.

• He's very smart and thoughtful. He's rather shy, so it might take him a while to confess his feelings. He's very passionate, so once he confesses, he will give his all to making you happy.

• He wants you to love him in an obsessive way, giving him all your time, attention and love.

• He's also extremely affectionate, always wanting to cuddle, hug and kiss you whenever he gets chance. He always wants to have intimacy with you both in public and private.

• Fyodor is incredibly manipulative, often gaslights you and is always playing the victim. He wants to control everything you do and who you're talking to. He's very possessive and obsessive. He won't allow you to have any personal space and if you won't comply, Fyodor will use all manipulation techniques he possibly can to make you obey him. He's also a sadist and doesn't care if he hurts you. (Not all the time)

• + He likes doing sexual jokes and flirting to tease and embarrass you.

• He knows how to compromise, always willing to reach the agreement, even if it means that he must sacrifice something. He's very possessive and often acts controlling towards you, trying to make you behave the way he wants and only the way he wants.

• He's very jealous and doesn't trust you (in some ways), often accuses you in spending too much time with other guys or being too friendly with other guys (specially Google-sama Gogol).

• He can often be quite moody and acts coldly towards you for reasons you don't even know.

• He may be a terrifying clown, but once you get to know him, there's a whole different side. He would do anything for his love. His favorite thing is to spend time with his s/o, doingvall manner of romantic stuff...

• He loves being able to hold his partner, making them feel loved. Giving them sweet little kisses, even calling them pet-names and compliment their appearance all thevtime like the flirt he is.  Whenever his s/o feeling down, he makes sure to comfort them immediately.

• Nikolai loves to shower his lover with gifts and all manner of affection, just to see their beautiful faces light up. He loves it when they snuggle up with him, and he feels so safe.

• For him, it's okay to be vulnerable in front of his lover, no matter how embarrassing it might seem. Showing him that you have certain needs and wants in a relationship doesn't make you weak, it shows that you're brave enough to express your truth to someone you love dearly. And he wants his s/o to be happy and to feel safe with him. No matter what you go through, Google-Sama always be by your side.

• He always gives his best attitude towards his lover, he wants them to feel loved and appreciated. He wants to give them all those little things that make their day better, and make them smile. He also always makes sure to check in on them and show that he cares about them.

• But, he may comes off as a little overbearing at times. He's very possessive and always wants to protect his lover. He may tries to control them, and make them only focus on him...

• He can gets quite moody at times, and he also has a bit of a temper. Sometimes, he might be mean to his lover, and not realize the damage he causes.

• As a boyfriend, he'll be a gentleman to his s/o. He'll shower them with his love, affection, and compliments to no end. He will shower his lover with gifts as well, especially if he knows his s/o loves certain things. He's a devoted, loyal, caring boyfriend that isn't afraid of expressing his affection.

• When it comes to s/o feelings, he is sensitive and takes their problems seriously. However, he will sometimes feel that he is not good enough for them, which will cause some tension in their relationship.

• Sigma is a very caring and attentive person. He is someone who loves sharing his feelings, no matter how big or small. He enjoys spending time with his loved ones, creating happy memories together. He makes sure to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, and even small things like helping them with their daily tasks.

• He loves to show his affection with gifts and kind words. However, he can also be very sensitive and takes criticism hard, even if it's not meant to be harmful or personal.

• Sigma is someone who truly values and respects his partner, and wants the best for them. He makes an effort to see things from their point of view and considers their feelings in any decision he makes. He puts their needs before his own, even if it's something small like remembering important dates or making sure they have what they need. He also wants to understand and communicate with them, making sure to discuss any potential issues. He is open to compromise, and wants to find a solution that works for both of them.

• While Sigma is a caring and well meaning person, he tends to lash out and express his anger openly. If he ever gets into arguments with his s/o, he often loses his temper easily. He might start screaming and saying hurtful things to her, which can be very alarming and difficult to deal with. He might become jealous and paranoid quickly, which could cause unnecessary tension in their relationship. He might also ignore his lover's advice or opinion if he disagrees with it.

• Sigma can sometimes be a bit uptight and overly sensitive. He might take offense to something said without realizing that the other person didn't mean it in a bad way. His emotions can sometimes control him more than he realizes, and he may end up lashing out and hurting others with his words.

• He's also very perfectionistic and might struggle to compromise with his girlfriend when they have different views or opinions on something. This could lead to some problems in their relationship.

[fatuismooches]

I BRING FOR THEE SOME JOLLYFULL DOTTORE FLUFF....

I wish I could celebrate christmas with Dottore and his segments ommmggg.... IMAGINE all of the segments fighting to have their gift to you opened first 💀💀 full on brawls (while theyre all fighting Zandy comes up to reader and gives them his present LOL sneaky mf)

OG Dottore using the pufflings as ornaments for the christmas tree 💀 reader is NOT amused. All the segments eyeing their presents from reader and having to hold themselves back from pouncing on the wrapped gift. augugushisohobskbbkds

Reader getting them all the dottores theur own personalized gifts, each one unique and they're all so happy and yippeful!!!! 😭

(side note I cannot wait for winter break omg.....) - 🐓

AHH YES!! HOLIDAY SHENANIGANS WITH DOTTORE AND THE SEGMENTS!! <3 Ah you would have to be the one to convince him to do all this stuff... honestly, he considers the holiday spirit and traditions rather a waste of time and doesn't see the point, but, you look so happy and excited! And you've gotten little Zandy on your side too, telling him all the stories and sweet things people do on Christmas. So now he has two gremlins begging him for just a little bit, the tiniest touch of Christmas decoration. Fine.

Admittedly, gift-giving is not one of the segments' strong points, their idea of gifts is rather... well, very Dottore-like, if you know what I mean. But, you still treasure anything they give you, so they don't have that much of a problem! (Though you probably shouldn't answer their question if they ask you what you want. Because then you'll end up with like a dozen different copies of the same gift.) Also, they're very competitive when it comes to this. It's like a battle to see whose gift you liked the best, so please try to love all of them equally because you don't want to deal with an overly gloating segment. (Bb Zandy definitely does that!! Clever little boy taking advantage of the chaos to give his favorite person their gift! Ahh he probably did something handmade like a storybook for you and was worried that it wouldn't be as good since it has no monetary value but, you reassured him you love it dearly.)

NOOOO Prime being mean to the Puffttores as usual!! He picks the lil guys up by that strand of blue hair and hooks them to the tree... and watches as they miserably fail to get free... you immediately unhook the poor babies. If you think about it, your gift is probably like, the first gift they've ever received before. So they are ANTSY about what possibly it could be. One segment was caught trying to open his gift and you gave him a swift scolding. (AHH the image of you carefully wrapping all of their gifts and adding their name tag to each is sooo!!)

Mistletoe traps are a must as well. The minute you jokingly tell them about the tradition of kissing under it, suddenly they are placed in the most random areas of the usually grim lab. You brought this upon yourself.

You also bake some different sweets for them on Christmas morning as well! You leave the trays to cool for a few minutes but when you come back, everything is already gone. Sigh.

[shroomi1e]

❝ bouquet ❞

kazuha + albedo + zhongli + childe + xiao

summary: flowers and their meanings that represent genshin men

cw: fluff + angst throughout (heavier angst on xiao)

what i listened to while writing: bouquet - ichiko aoba

a/n: i honestly had a lot of fun researching floral language and learning different flower meanings. i definitely wanna do this again but i have another idea in mind so it might be a while before a pt. 2 lol. sorry again for the hiatus (as always) but i just wanna thank you guys for supporting the blog despite the lack of content 🩷

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kazuha | narcissus: until i finally see you again

even from afar, you are always at the forefront of kazuha’s mind. he makes careful brushstrokes on a maple leaf, writing in flowers how he misses you so dearly. and when the moon climbs up to the sky, he climbs up to the crow’s nest of the ship, praying to the wind to deliver his message to you. with a final gentle kiss to seal his words, he lets go of the leaf, watching it ride the wind toward you.

and in the days he misses you, the samurai often finds comfort in nature, all the little gifts from the gods reminding him of you. the way the delicate leaves sway in the wind is reminiscent of your soft hair in the wind as you lean over the edge of the ship, the sprouting cherry blossoms of inazuma are just like your rosy cheeks after you’ve read another one of his haikus, the quiet lamp grass flowers shine in the night just as your eyes do, the melody of the birds sounds just like your soft giggles as you lay next to him, and the way kazuha brushes away the dew drops in the early morning reminds him of your fingertips wiping away his silent tears at night when the nightmares are too much to bear.

“the gods must have molded you after this world,” he thinks to himself, “for your beauty rivals that of the flowers, birds, and all that is beautiful.”

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albedo | daisy: you have made me born anew

albedo has always known that he is different from the others. too different, in fact, to fit into society. he has neither mortality nor a human purpose, only a single mission given by his master: to find out the purpose and meaning of life. despite being a pure, pristine being, he can’t help but want to be dyed in your colors. for the first time, the alchemist feels human. the steady thumping of his heart, the warmth crawling up his cheeks, and his fingertips shaking, it’s all so new to him.

albedo finally understands what his master meant. rhinedottir had never wanted albedo to run on commands, but rather pursue something that gave him a purpose, that ‘something’ being you. that’s precisely why she abandoned him with the last mission, the last question. and despite having neither status nor money, what albedo does have is his time. in a world where a century feels like a minute, the world suddenly seems to spin slower as soon as you wrap your arms around him.

when albedo caresses you and takes in your scent and your warmth, he melts into something else. he wishes no longer to be the kreideprinz, but instead the human named albedo, a regular alchemist from mondstadt.

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zhongli | bluebell: my love for you is everlasting

the geo archon’s hand trembles ever so slightly as he slides the ring on your finger. your hands feel unbearably warm against his as you slide off his gloves, revealing his dark brown fingertips with veins of gold. when you push the golden band onto his ring finger, zhongli makes a silent promise to you.

he wants his love to be everlasting, to last longer than the rocky mountains of liyue, longer than the ancient monuments and ruins, and longer than his own soul can last. zhongli knows very well that you won’t be here for long. it’ll all be one ephemeral moment before you turn to dust, but your soul will always lie with him, in his heart. he’ll carve your words into stone, he’ll shape the mountains to your figure, he’ll mold the land of liyue after your beauty, and anything else it takes to immortalize you forever.

and when you finally have to leave him, zhongli sits at the stone table on mount aocang, waiting. every day he sits there, pouring two cups of tea and admiring the scenery of the stone forest ahead of him. he knows it’s rather childish; it’s already clear that you’re not coming back.

but the ever-so-rational zhongli can’t help but imagine. what if one day you trek up the mountain and greet him just as you always did? what if you sit next to him and begin telling him about your day, complaining about that same co-worker as you always did?

it’d be such there wasn’t a cup of tea ready for you if you were to come back…

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childe | cornflower: i crave your gentleness

childe doesn’t fear anything. mighty dragons, corrupted abyssal creatures, not even the higher-ranking harbingers themselves. he is bold as ever, always the first to raise his fists or his weapon, always the first to find himself a challenge. battered bruises and scars are routine to him, and the strength of his enemies excites him.

but why is it that he so easily crumbles beneath your touch?

it’s the way your fingernails barely kiss his eyelashes and graze down to the freckles on his cheeks, counting them one by one as if you were counting the stars in the sky, that makes childe afraid. your touch feels so soft, so gentle that he fears that you might turn to dust, that this might all be an illusion of his dreams.

childe’s arms sit like lead by his side, unable to reciprocate your serene affections. what if his skin doesn’t reach yours, and he instead realizes you are a ghost? what if you shatter like porcelain under his touch? please, please just stay by his side. he doesn’t care if you are real or not, just keep giving him those same gentle touches as you are now. just at least until he falls asleep, where he can meet you in his dreams.

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xiao | sweet briar: i am wounded, and yet you're here

though most people believe the hardest battles are between xiao and the demons, it is between xiao and himself where he most struggles. every day is a tug-of-war between him and his masked self, a battle that determines whether or not he can resist the corruption that has piled up within his soul. and yet he always manages to win by a hair.

but of course, xiao has his weaknesses as well. there will always be days when his nightmares claw at his body and attempt to tear him apart, where the wails and screeches from tormented souls echo in his head. he can feel his mask getting tighter, almost as if it’s suffocating him for his sins. but xiao knows you’ll always be there. he knows you’ll come running towards him, ripping his mask off, which is now stained with tears. he knows you’ll wrap your arms around his body, kissing his forehead while muttering sickly sweet affections.

even on the days when he half expects you to not be there, you always manage to find a way. this is why xiao made his promise to you, to always be at your beck and call, even through worlds and universes. even if he's battered and frayed, he wants to embrace you at your lowest, just as you always do. whether he survives isn’t important, as long as he spends the last moments in your arms.

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a/n: i didn't mean to make zhongli's much longer than everyone else's, it just kinda happened... i wanted to add pictures of the flowers but for some reason tumblr just won't let me :((

[sunshine-overload]

[BSTS] April Fool’s 2024 ‘The Hero, Reincarnated in Another World’ Event Story - Part 1

I hope all the names don’t get too confusing!

Chapter 1

-inside castle-

storyteller (aogiri): —This is the Starless Kingdom. The strict king that rules over this land is currently in a state of disarray. Why? Because the princess who is loved dearly by this nation, was kidnapped by the wretched and evil Demon King. And so, the king has summoned a hero in order to see her returned home safely...

haseyama: ...Huh? Where am I?

??? (kei): —Was the ritual successful?

haseyama: Huh? Kei? What he hell is going on here?

king (kei): I am the king of this land.

haseyama: ...What?

king: The princess of this kingdom has been kidnapped by the deplorable Demon King. I have called upon you in order to save her.

haseyama: What are you going on about? ...Actually never mind that, what on earth am I wearing? When did this gaudy outfit get put on me. You damn bastard, is this your doing? 

king: I have summoned you here from another realm to subdue the Demon King. Once you defeat him and return the princess to me, I shall allow you to return to the world of which you came from.

haseyama: Huuh? ...I must be dreaming.

king: Whether this is a dream or not is a moot point. Either way your task remains the same.

-kei points his sword at haseyama-

haseyama: Hey now, put that blade away. You wouldn't want to put a hole in my throat would you?

king: If you do not intend to carry out my order then I have no qualms in sending your head flying.

haseyama: Shouldn't you be the one going to defeat the Demon King? Why are you relying on someone else?

king: There are countless other scoundrels aiming for my throne. A king cannot leave his castle unattended. Now answer me, will you carry out my order or not? You may only accept or refuse.

haseyama: Threatening me huh? That's not very noble of you. Do you think I'll listen to you just cause you've got a sword pointed at me?

king: If you do not wish to cooperate then I will just summon a different man after I've executed you. So, once again, answer me.

-kei points blade closer to haseyama-

haseyama: Ok, fine fine! I'll play along with your little world of make believe... Jeez.

king: Splendid. In that case, Hero, I shall bestow you with this legendary sword to use in battle.

haseyama: Hero this legendary sword that, this isn't a video game you know? So I just need to stab the Demon Kong with this then, right? Where is he?

king: You must ascertain that yourself.

haseyama: ...Are you kidding?

king: Gather your own party of companions as well. As for any funds you may need for your journey, acquire it by your own means. The currency we use here is called ‘yell’.

haseyama: Whaaat?

king: A Hero should be able to handle that much without issue. With that, I wish you luck on your journey.

haseyama: Wh... What the hell!?

—end

*yell - same name as the currency in-game

-

Chapter 2

-inside castle-

haseyama: What was all that about? He barely explained anything to me. Was that not actually Kei...? Jeez, he could've at least told me where I should head to first.

-time pass, grassy field, day-

haseyama: Let's see, what should I do...

??? (rindou): Oh, could you be the Hero?

haseyama: Huh? —!?

??? (rindou): You are the Hero, right? I share the same goal as you, let us go together.

haseyama: You're Rindou ain't you?

nameless swordsman (rindou): I do not possess a fine name such as that. I am merely a nameless swordsman. My sword skills are of a competent level, I promise I'll be of use to you.

haseyama: (That bastard Kei did tell me I should gather companions...)

haseyama: Sure thing. I'd rather not travel alone either, let's team up.

nameless swordsman: Really? Thank you very much!

haseyama: So, how do I gain even more companions?

nameless swordsman: We should head to the tavern. That is usually where parties are formed.

haseyama: Parties...?

nameless swordsman: I think we should try recruiting some members in Umbrella Village. 

haseyama: Ok, let's do that. Heroes in video games always gather a team after all.

nameless swordsman: Video games?

-mokuren appears-

??? (mokuren): I've got you!

-rindou jumps in front of haseyama-

nameless swordsman: Watch out!!

-mokuren attacks-

haseyama: Woah!?

??? (mokuren): ...Hmph, you guarded him.

nameless swordsman: Kicking people out of nowhere is quite rude. What do you want from us?

??? (mokuren): That guy's the Hero isn't he? Wouldn't it be fun to knock him down a peg?

haseyama: What are you saying? Have you gone insane, you bastard?

??? (mokuren): You're a Hero yet this other guy had to protect you. It's laughable. Could it be you're not actually capable at all?

haseyama: As if. Who the hell do you think you are?

-qu appears-

??? (qu): My apologies. This one is the type to attack an opponent they're interested in the moment they see them. They're a dancer and I'm a priest. We were travelling together but...

dancer (mokuren): Travelling with the Hero sounds like fun. Let me join you. 

priest (qu): There you have it.

haseyama: Hey, this sword I've got is pretty amazing. Just by carrying it on me everyone's recognising me as the hero. Killing time in this world ain't half bad, everyone here is depending on me.

nameless swordsman: Indeed. The fate of this realm is in your hands.

haseyama: Alright then, I'll take you two in as companions. In exchange, escort me to this so called Umbrella Village.

dancer: Don't stand behind me.

-mokuren almost kicks haseyama-

haseyama: ...!? That was close!

nameless swordsman: Amazing, you evaded their kick so gracefully. You really are the true Hero then, how excellent!

priest: Still, it's best you avoid walking behind Dancer. We wouldn't want to have to go looking for a new Hero. 

haseyama: They'll throw a kick at me the moment I step behind them? Since when are dancers such violent people!?

—end

*Umbrella Village - reference to the song umbrella/amegasa

-

Chapter 3

-inside tavern-

haseyama: Hmm, so this is the tavern where I can gather team members?

nameless swordsman: Yes. All sorts of people visit here, so you can try and recruit whoever interests you.

haseyama: Hmm, all sorts of people huh...

drunkard (akira): Bartenderrrr, hurry up and bring me more booze~ I placed my order ages ago didn't I?

haseyama: ...Geh, that's Akira isn't it?

drunkard: No need to apologise to me sir, if you know any cute girls just introduce me to them, ok?

priest: ...Appears there are some drunk customers here as well.

dancer: Don't tell me you're planning to make him your companion? He's beyond drunk. Pick your friends better, Hero.

haseyama: Shut it you. I don't wanna have to make a team full of faces I recognise either. Is there no other options here?

bartender (hinata): Ah, welcome! Would you like to order?

haseyama: Oh, someone I don't recognise actually showed up. Are you the bartender...?

bartender: Yeah, what about it? That's one impressive looking sword you've got with you sir ♪

haseyama: Yeah. I, as the owner of this sword, am looking for some suitable companions to travel with. You're... a bartender so you'd be no good in a fight. Is there anybody that's strong in this place?

bartender: Ah, there is there is! That guy drinking alcohol over there! He called himself the 'Strongest Sorcerer'.

haseyama: Ooh, the strongest huh?

strongest sorcerer (lico): (drinking) Whew that's good...

haseyama: What, him? That's just Lico though?

nameless swordsman: The strongest sorcerer? It's true that I can sense he isn't just your average person.

haseyama: You can? Well... I guess I'll try talking to him then.

-haseyama walks over to lico-

haseyama: Hey, you.

strongest sorcerer: Hm?

haseyama: Join me. It's an honour to be on the Hero's team, no?

strongest sorcerer: ...Excuse me? What are you talking about. I doubt a decrepit old man line you could defeat the Demon King.

haseyama: What did you just call me!?

strongest sorcerer: I can see why you'd wish for the help of I, the strongest sorcerer. It's obvious you'd need my power. If you'd like for me to join you, then bow to me first.

haseyama: Excuse me!?

strongest sorcerer: My abilities don't come cheap you know. Are you going to hire me? How much money do you have, can you even afford it?

haseyama: Bastard, how about I go ahead and double the debt you owe me?

strongest sorcerer: Debt? What are you talking about?

haseyama: Never mind! Besides you're talking all big but are you even a sorcerer like you claim to be? Reeks of bullshit to me.

strongest sorcerer: Shall I show you my skills then? —There.

-all of the bottles on the shelf burst-

haseyama: Woah!?

priest: All of the alcohol bottles exploded at the same time...! What an impressive spell.

haseyama: I see, I see. So you being the strongest wasn't a lie after all. Got it. If it's money that you want I'll pay you later, however much you want. So join me.

strongest sorcerer: However much I want? Do you really expect me to believe that?

haseyama: No, but once I beat the Demon King that arrogant king of yours is sure to give me a handsome reward right? Once I return to my world I'll have no need for this place's currency, so you can have it.

strongest sorcerer: Return to your world?

haseyama: Ah... Just don't sweat the details! The point is I'll give you whatever reward that unpleasant king coughs up for me. Deal?

strongest sorcerer: ...Well, that offer doesn't sound so bad. If that's the deal then I don't mind joining you.

haseyama: Perfect, the contract is decided.

—end

-

Chapter 4

-riverbed, night-

cat beastman (maica): Argh... Disappear!

mob class demon (kasumi): Guh, he got me!

wolf beastman (ginsei): These bastards... go away already!

mob class demon: Uwah, they're strong!

cat beastman: (heavy breathing)... So? Is it gone now?

mob class demon: Nope, there's still more of us~!

-three kasumi's appear-

cat beastman: What!? Even more appeared!

wolf beastman: No matter how many we defeat there's no end to them...! Shit, if only it was a full moon I'd be more powerful...!

cat beastman: Aah damn it, my charm skill isn't having any effect! Even though it's just a mob class...!

mob class demon: My apologies~ I'm going to keep attacking you now!

-the three kasumis leap forward-

-scene cuts away-

haseyama: I heard at the tavern that the Demon King's castle is in the north... but isn't that a bit too vague? Where in the north?

priest: Well, let's just continue heading north for now.

haseyama: I don't want to just aimlessly walk in a direction with no idea what's ahead. One of you find out where—

wolf beastman: Someone please help us! Anybody!

priest: Oh my? It appears those two are being attacked by a demon.

haseyama: (smirking) Oh are they now...? In a situation like this we have no choice but to help them out hmm? All of you, help them.

strongest sorcerer: Sure thing, that amount of demons is child's play.

nameless swordsman: Are you not going to fight, Hero?

haseyama: Hm? Well, I suppose I could at least try this sword out. Alright, here we go.

-haseyama swings sword-

mob class demon: Gyahh! That hurts!

mob class demon: Kyaaa~! Ouch!!

mob class demon: Retreat~!

nameless swordsman: ...How surprising. That sword really is just as powerful as it looks.

haseyama: Never mind that, those guys dropped some money when they ran right? Hurry and pick it up.

wolf beastman: Um, thank you for helping us. We were in a real pinch.

cat beastman: You're strong. I'd expect no less from the Hero, you have my gratitude.

haseyama: Hey now, don't tell me you think words alone will pay me back for deciding to help you?

cat beastman: !

priest: What? Um, Hero? Why are you pointing your sword at civilians...

haseyama: C'mon, pull out all the money and items you have on you. Small price to pay for us saving your lives, no?

wolf beastman: Huh? S-sure. Sure thing, here's what I have.

cat beastman: Then... Here's what I have too, take whatever you'd like.

haseyama: Thank you~ Alright let's get going guys, north we go.

priest: ...Yes.

-hero party leaves-

cat beastman: ...He took literally everything we had!?

wolf beastman: Are they really the hero party...?

—end

-

Chapter 5

-village-

haseyama: Look, I'll say it one more time. What I want is for you to prepare me some weapons and a full set of armour.

weapons dealer (aogiri): Yes, I understand that sir. That is why I am trying to arrange an appropriate price with you.

haseyama: I'm the hero that'll be defeating the Demon King. Shouldn't I be getting whatever I need for free?

weapons dealer: Are you saying that you'd like for the common folk to die from uncompensated work, Hero-sama?

haseyama: The heck is up with that attitude of yours. Tch, whatever, who needs equipment anyway. Oh well... I guess I'll take a look at the map we stole from those beastmen.

??? (sinju): Hello there, Hero-san. What have you got there?

haseyama: Huh? Oh, Sinju?

villager A (sinju): Who? I'm a villager. I live in Umbrella Village.

haseyama: Tch, doubt you'd be very strong in battle then. This is a map with directions to the Demon King's castle.

villager A: Oh wow! As expected of the Hero, that's one cool map.

haseyama: Cool how? Look at it, it's no better than those scribbles Unei calls drawings. I don't even know where to head other than north, does no one have any clearer directions? Hey, do you know how to get to the Demon King's castle?

villager A: Uhh... Nope, I have no idea. Ah but, on the outskirts of this town there's a fortune teller who has a reputation of always being correct. Why don't you try asking him?

haseyama: Fortune teller huh... Well, if he gets it right then that'll be beneficial. I guess I'll give it a try.

-haseyama walks to the fortune teller-

fortune teller (heath): ...Welcome. What would you like?

haseyama: ...It's Heath, huh? Anyways, I want to go to the Demon King's castle. Tell me how I should proceed to get there.

fortune teller: Ok. In that case, I will turn over my tarot cards... I have the result.

haseyama: Oh? And?

fortune teller: North. You should continue to proceed north.

haseyama: I know that much already! You're just a damn conman ripping everyone off ain't you? Good for nothing, what a waste of my time.

-haseyama goes to leave-

fortune teller: Wait.

haseyama: What now?

fortune teller: The cards also say that disaster will befall you. I recommend you be careful.

haseyama: Hah, what a joke. Coming to this world was already a disaster in itself.

-haseyama's office-

??? (unei): It appears that a man calling himself the Hero is in search of my castle. Hmm, ‘hero’ he says... Kuku, no matter who they are all someone is capable of doing in the presence of my dark magic is grovelling on the ground before me. I suggest you watch closely, Princess! I'll send that Hero to an early grave!

saki: Umm, who is this Hero you’re talking about? And... Where am I exactly...?

??? (unei): It is none of your concern, Princess. Now then, let us get ready for supper.

saki: (Why is Unei-san wearing that outfit? Where am I? What is going on...)

—end 

-

Chapter 6

-forest, night-

dancer: Hmph, the sun's completely set.

haseyama: Where on earth is that damn Demon King's castle! There's nothing but forest here!

nameless swordsman: It's best we find somewhere to set up camp and rest. The forest is a dangerous place at night.

strongest sorcerer: Huuh? I didn't sign up for camping.

nameless swordsman: We have no other choice, there aren't any inns nearby.

priest: Let's sleep in shifts and rest our bodies.

haseyama: I'll leave keeping watch to you lot. I'm sleeping till the sun comes up.

-time pass-

haseyama: Zz... zz...

nameless swordsman: Hero, are you awake?

haseyama: Nn... Huh? What is it? I'd finally gotten comfortable.

nameless swordsman: My apologies, but I must tell you something very important. I don't want the others to overhear so let's move somewhere more secluded.

-they move deeper into the forest-

haseyama: So? What is it? 

-haseyama stumbles-

haseyama: Wh— Woah!? Ouch, the hell is this? There’s a rope—

nameless swordsman: Appears you're caught.

haseyama: Hey, bastard! Don't touch my sword, what are you planning to do with that?

nameless swordsman: Sir Hero who is very much only a hero in name. I'll be taking this sword from you.

haseyama: Excuse me? You asshole, are you betraying me!?

nameless swordsman: Fufu, from the very start my aim has been to— !?

-kokuyou appears and attacks rindou-

??? (kokuyou): You... You're the man with a bounty on his head known as 'Gentian' aren't you?

gentian (rindou): I don't know who you are but it appears my covers been blown, hm?

haseyama: Bounty? That means you're villain doesn't it!?

gentian: No, I am simply part of the resistance. That doesn't make me a villain. This sword of yours should be in the hands of someone more deserving. The person who corrects the wrongs of this world does not have to be a subordinate of the king.

warrior (kokuyou): Shut the hell up already. I'll be taking your head!

-kokuyou attacks rindou-

-rindou dodges-

gentian: Woah there!

-screen goes white with a smoke bomb-

haseyama: Argh!? (coughing)... The heck, I can't see anything!

gentian: Appears the odds are not in my favour, so I'll be taking my leave here. Let us meet again someday.

-smoke clears-

haseyama: Dammit, that bastard! He's damn quick at running away.

warrior: He was after your sword... Are you the rumoured Hero?

haseyama: You're... not Kokuyou. Who are you?

warrior: I'm a warrior, I work as a bounty hunter. 

haseyama: Ooh? You're strong enough to make a swordsman turn on his heel and run. Join me. If you come with me then as compensation I'll um... Oh I know. Once we defeat the Demon King I will grant unto thee dominion over half the world.

warrior: I don't need something as absurd as half the world... But I am interested in beating that Demon King to a pulp. You got me at a good time, I'm free right now so sure, I'll come along.

haseyama: Nice. Oh right, by the way, would you happen to know where the Demon King's castle is?

warrior: I have heard it's in the north.

haseyama: Is that all any of you can say!?

—end

*gentian - 竜胆 can be read as ‘rindou’

*half the world - this line is a dragon quest reference

-

Chapter 7

-forest clearing, day-

haseyama: I don't see any castles in the distance... Could we at least hitch a ride on a horse and carriage or something?

strongest sorcerer: I was thinking the same thing. Why does someone as magnificent as me have to do all this walking?

dancer: Oi, Hero. We're out of food too. I'm hungry.

haseyama: Oh shut up, do you see any grocery stores around here?

priest: I'm sure if we just endure for a little longer we'll stumble upon a town or village.

-dark mist appears on the path-

-mizuki and two kasumi's appear-

??? (mizuki): Hey, you over there!

haseyama: Huh?

??? (mizuki): You're that shitty ass Hero that's going after the Demon King yeah? I'm gonna kill you dead!

haseyama: ...!? Who the hell are you?

mob class demon: He is one of the four great leaders of the Demon King's army! His name is 'Mad Dog of the East'!

mob class demon: I'm merely an ant compared to his unbelievable power~!

warrior: Four great leaders? He doesn't look that tough to me.

mad dog of the east (mizuki): Kyahahah, attack 'em!!

mob class demon: Yes, sir~!!

-they attack the hero party-

-time pass-

strongest sorcerer: Haa... That's it, I'm at my limit. I can't walk another step.

warrior: We managed to defeat that great leader guy but I'm all out of stamina...

haseyama: Despite being a dumb brat he was dang strong.

-gui appears-

??? (gui): ...Hero party.

haseyama: Wah...!? Shit, another assassin? This is a terrible time...!

??? (gui): Eat this. It is fryryce fruit.

haseyama: What? Is that even edible?

dancer: I'll take it.

priest: It may be poisonous, be careful.

dancer: This is... delicious! What an amazing fruit, give me more.

??? (gui): Here.

dancer: Delicious...! I can feel my strength coming back to me...!

haseyama: Really? Let's see then... !? Why does this fruit taste exactly like fried rice...?

strongest sorcerer: Woah you weren't kidding, I feel much better. I'll be taking seconds.

haseyama: What's up with this fruit? This world makes no sense.

??? (gui): My wish is for you to rescue the Princess.

-gui disappears-

strongest sorcerer: ...Huh? He just disappeared?

warrior: What was up with him?

priest: He may have been a spirit of the deceased that watches over this land.

haseyama: I have no idea, but he helped us out. Now we can keep heading north.

—end

-

Chapter 8

-beach, day-

haseyama: Why do I have to be the one to find some food... Jeez, it stinks of ocean.

-menou appears with eyes closed-

haseyama: ...Hm? There's someone collapsed on the ground over there. Is it a corpse?

??? (menou): Yawn~ You're finally here... I got so tired of waiting that I fell asleep. You're the Hero, right? Excuse me.

haseyama: What, you were alive? GAH!?

-menou stabs haseyama, screen flashes red-

??? (menou): One and a two~

-red flash-

haseyama: Wh... You bastard... what are you... Gah!

??? (menou): And a three and a four~

-red flash-

??? (menou): There we go, five stabs. That should be enough right? I've done what I was told to do.

haseyama: Argh...! You... Who are you...?

??? (menou): Me? I'm one of the four great leaders of the Demon King's army~ My name is... Um, what was it again? I forgot. Oh, you can just call me Yu. It's my favourite combination of letters. But well, it's not like we'll ever see each other again anyways. See you.

haseyama: B-bastard, don't you run away...

-mokuren appears-

dancer: Rejoice, Hero. We found a whole bunch of shellfish over... Hm?

yu? (menou): Oh, your companions are back. How troublesome.

warrior: The Hero is all messed up, just how powerful is that guy?

dancer: Oi, we should attack him. From this distance magic will be fastest. 

strongest sorcerer: Sure, but I might hit the Hero as well. Is that ok?

dancer: Who cares, shoot.

strongest sorcerer: Fine fine, here I go~

-lico shoots a magic blast-

yu?: ...Hm? Was I just hit by something?

haseyama: That attack didn't effect him at all! Strongest sorcerer my ass!

strongest sorcerer: Shut up! I really am the strongest in that village!

yu?: Sigh... You're all so weak, I'm bored. Maybe I'll just retire from being a great leader and live in an onsen somewhere...

haseyama: Hey, wait...!

yu?: Oh right, I should take your money first.

haseyama: Huh!? My money!

yu?: Bye bye.

-menou leaves-

strongest sorcerer: What the heck, he just ran away? Pisses me off.

priest: Are you ok, Hero? I'll cast some healing magic, please hold still.

haseyama: Godammit! All of you are useless!

dancer: ...I didn't think the Hero would be this weak and pathetic. How boring.

-mokuren goes to leave-

priest: ...? Where are you going, Dancer?

dancer: I'm going to go find someone more exciting to fight under. I'm done with him.

strongest sorcerer: ...They really just do whatever they want huh.

warrior: It's just a fighters instinct. 

priest: We all must search for our own true strength...

haseyama: Isn't that person just a dancer though!? ...Hey, that hurts! I thought you used healing magic on me? Why am I not healed!?

priest: I'm terribly sorry, but I've used up all my mana. This is as much as I can heal for now. There should be an establishment where we can get you proper treatment further along this path. Let's head there.

—end

*Yu - ゆ meaning ‘hot water’ is the hiragana used on the entrances to onsens

To Part 2

[izumi-fanclub]

A3! Event Story Translation “Ah, My Dearly Beloved” [ Chapter 3 ]

We have a very special guest star for today's episode.

Syu

Yo, hope I’m not intruding.

Chikage

Syu-san.

Itaru

RNG must be crazy for you to show up.

Syu

I was just passing by when I ran into this guy and he invited me in for a drink.

Guy

I heard from Azuma that we have some good local sake, so I took the liberty of inviting him over.

Syu

I came for the sake, but I also need to talk to you about something so it all ties in together.

Izumi

What about?

Syu

Ever heard of an inn called Sayuru Pavilion?

Izumi

It’s a famous long-established ryokan. The foliage there during autumn is popular so it’s hard to make a reservation…

Azuma

We were just talking about it earlier.

Syu

Talk about good timing. So you must’ve heard there’s a Noh stage there.

Azami

Yeah, we saw the pictures.

Syu

It’s basically just decoration now since it’s barely used, actors are only onstage once per year.

Chikage

Are you referring to the “Night Party” by any chance?

Syu

Hohh… So you know. That’s not typical information you’d see out in the open.

Chikage

Just learned some things brought up in work conversations.

There’s a group of influential people called the “Scarlet Poet Society”, they have an evening party where they gather in secret annually…

That’s as far as my knowledge goes about it.

Omi

It’s like something out of a drama or movie.

Itaru

That’s so IRL animecore.

Syu

Here’s the kicker.

Those night party performances that are performed on the Noh stage? Our troupe’s in charge of that every year.

Izumi

No way!?

Guy

How impressive.

Syu

We got asked to do it again this year, and the theme was “Four Seasons.”

I figured the MANKAI Company is a better match for the theme than us.

They got interested in the company since it was my old troupe and you guys won the Fleur Award.

Izumi

So Syu-san, what you needed to talk about was…?

Syu

How about you put on a play at that party instead of us?

Izumi

We’d love t—.

Syu

There’s one condition, however.

Sakyo

A condition?

Syu

The lead has to be a teenage boy. Don’t got a clue why it has to be different this time around.

Well, whatever’s up, the story’s not half bad.

Izumi

To be honest, I’m not sure if it’s alright to hold a soiree there, but if Syu-san recommends us personally then it shouldn’t be risky…

Sakyo

If Syu-san partners up with them every year, then they must be influential and not just some name.

It’s a great story too, it should be fine to take it up.

Izumi

Then it’s decided. …We’ll gladly take up your offer.

Syu

As you should.

Sakyo

And the script?

Syu

I’ll get it prepared for you. I know your style anyway.

Izumi

Thank you so much!

Azuma

…Well, now that all the work talk is over with.

Syu

Yeah, sorry for taking up so much of your time. Now that negotiations are in order, let’s get to stuffing our faces.

Guy

I shall get us some snacks.

Izumi

I’ll go help!

Azami

…Hey, Sakyo.

Sakyo

What?

Azami

That ryokan, Sayuru Pavilion��� it feels familiar, have I been there when I was a kid?

Sakyo

…No, I don’t recall anything. Maybe it was before I joined, go ask the boss.

Azami

(That’s such a pain though.)

Chikage

I’m home.

Azami

Welcome back.

Chikage

Studying ancient literature?

Azami

Yeah, Itaru-san just went out ‘cause of a work call.

Chikage

I see. Sorry for disrupting your studying.

Azami

Whatever. It’s fine, I could use a break.

Chikage

…Are you having a hard time with it? Azami

Eh?

Chikage

It doesn’t look like you’re making much progress from the number of pages.

Azami

I mean…

Chikage

…Now what are you reeling back for?

Azami

It’s like a defense mechanism thing.

Chikage

Well, go take your time. I’m gonna eat dinner.

Azami

Sigh… I’ll never get what’s up with that guy…

[ Prev. ]

[ Next ]

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

I was reading your metas and came across the part where you said he wanted her to already be in love with him and wanted his money back and..what does that even entail for him? He wanted an obedient slave? Ok but he still wouldn't have trusted her. He still wouldn't have been happy.

This is the full text of what I said in that previous ask on the topic:

He’s been waiting for a sun summoner for an untold amount of time and has been building all his goals and desires around it. He keeps demanding her submission but that won’t get him her respect. He wants her to idolize him and to agree with everything he does. In her he wants a companion in immortality and a starry eyed acolyte. He spent all this time thinking the sun summoner was the key to all of his life’s woes, and then Alina shows up and WRECKS his shit. he feels ripped off!! He wants his money back!! But also desperately, desperately wants her to magically have always been the person he wanted her to be.

Worth noting that that is from a meta post where I’m explaining my characterization choices for a fic I wrote. But I do think that’s still accurate of (my interpretation) of his canon characterization anyway.

I can’t tell whether you mean “happy” as in actual happiness or in the sense of being satisfied. Though either way, you’re absolutely correct!

Regardless, these two things do tie in together to be honest. In the sense of happiness: he is a withered, miserable husk of a person. I don’t think at this point he’s really capable of being happy.

There is so much about his backstory we don’t know. But it is explicit that he didn’t start out an unfeeling monster. Demon in the Wood does go out of its way to establish that. But it also establishes his ruthlessness from a very young age and ability to do difficult things to save himself. But he’s so goal oriented and those goals are usually at the cost of any immediate, real happiness. Throughout his life, he’s kept making sacrifices, of himself and others, in the name of his larger goals, but the growing cost in his wake means that the things he’s striving towards get loftier and loftier in order to be worth it. It’s pure sunk cost fallacy.

Meanwhile, age is itself corruption for him. As he accumulates wealth, luxury, and power, and in turn loses touch with humanity and becomes increasingly jaded, his concerns become more self-centered and power driven rather than based in genuine moral ideals.

Outliving everyone he’s ever known multiple times over solidifies his growing selfishness, because what is a few hundred, or thousand lives to him, when they will all be dead within a heartbeat anyway? He might be trying to “save Ravka” from a nationalist standpoint, but the people that make up the country itself are fully disposable. Like we see by Shadow and Bone, his take on Grisha liberation is literally just fascism.

So at the tail end of at least five hundred, to possibly one thousand years, we have a corrupt despot, sitting on an endless pile of corpses, and lifetimes of genuine personal misery, who still believes himself to be the ultimate martyr, and that there is going to be— there must be— some sort of return on his enormously outsized and dearly purchased investments.

And he expects that return to be Alina.

Tangentially, something that really annoys me about this series is that, for all its focus on weighing legend and fable with reality, and trying to find the truth in stories that have been twisted by time and repetition, is that we get absolutely zero sun summoner lore, despite the strong implication that it does exist. The show makes some paltry attempt at giving us something about it being almost a prophecy? That there is some sort of, explicitly religious, story that a sun summoner will come and save Ravka or some such thing. The books don’t have even that.

We know that there is concept of sun summoners as something that could potentially happen, because they have a name for Alina’s ability the moment she’s discovered— even though there’s no indication that there’s ever been anyone else who shared the same power. But we never hear how, what exactly the expectations are, or for how long that’s been known.

What also know that the Darkling is waiting for one. And from how he speaks to her, he seems to view her as almost a cosmic reward and salve for his suffering. I do not think he’s exaggerating when he talks about how she was “meant” to be his/his balance or how she was “meant” for the amplifiers that he intends to bolster his destiny to rule. I think he fully believes in some sort of fate or grand destiny for the both of them, or rather for himself, and she is just a branch of that.

This is reaching pure conjecture, but there is the implication that shadow summoning only exists because of Ilya Morozova’s dabbling with merzost. And it itself highly seems to predate any iteration of a sun summoner ever existing, so the theory that one might ever come to be is literally because someone needs to offset the Darkling. (The series is generally very “what about Baghra? idk don’t worry about it” in terms of… a lot of things when it comes to how unique Alina and the Darkling are lmaoo and I guess that applies here.) And there’s the one kind of throw away line of his in the first book about how Etherealki typically work in pairs, but *meaningful look* Alina doesn’t have one, that I feel further hints at this idea of them being a matching set. The worldbuilding itself is murky and hard to parse in its contradictions, but I think it’s safe to say that he personally views her as something created for him.

He is putting all of his misery, and insane desires and dreams accumulated over many centuries, at her feet and expecting her to be the fulfillment of it all. There’s no way she can actually satisfy that! It is a fully, completely unattainable standard. It will never be enough. “What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men” etc, etc.

I already said this in that fic meta, but it’s relevant again here: I do think that, genuinely, there’s no degree of submission Alina could ever offer that would be enough. Partially because his irrational desire for her preexisting unconditional love, where he wants an impossible scenario where she simply never went against him or hated him for anything he did, can never be met after their initial falling out, but also because his expectations are fully unattainable. It isn’t a void that any real, living person can fill.

So you’re fully correct, even if she was completely obedient, and star struck, and ready to listen to him in all things, even as he lies to her. Even if she were willing to believe he was completely justified and in the right for his plans of cartoonish world domination, he would not be happy with her! She would always fall short.

All of this is to say that what I find most compelling about the Grisha trilogy is its stylized-through-fantasy premise of a vulnerable protagonist whose identity is threatened to be entirely subsumed by the exacting desires of a cruel man. I think for all of its clumsy and more juvenile trappings— and how it doesn’t fully even engage with this theme that is integral to it, yet mostly exists in the margins— it’s a fairly interesting and complicated space to play with themes of abuse and grooming. And that’s usually the main lens I’m engaging with it through.

I hope that clarifies my point!

[the-whispers-of-death]

im a sucker for all the tropes ever so. may i present uhh. one of those things where a character gets sent to a different world. yeah. putting my dearly beloved criminal!stone trough all the situations ever

imagine that reader is just your average joe. a 9to5 job, living alone, that sorta deal. biggest crime he's ever commited is crossing a red light or not paid for a bus fare, yknow, that sorta thing

maybe a regular job. warehouse manager, cashier, mechanic. that sorta thing.

maybe hes just gotten off his shift. probably did overtime. definetly takes a shortcut trough an alley.

absolutely does not expect to hear running footsteps and to get yanked backwards and turned around to face criminal!stone

WhoTheFuck and WhatTheFuck

maybe stone's internally freaking out. what IS this place, the streets dont look like that!! where's his boss??? the street names are the same but. theyre clean. safe. what??? not a thug in sight

what if he spotted reader from a far and sprints his way. too much distance! what if something happens? but the distance means he cant see that not a single scar is on his body. that he doesnt even have a gun. not even a knife! maybe he was 100% convinced this was his boss but. nope. just a look-a-like

maybe as hes processing this, stone freezes up for a second. a second too long as hes getting shoved back.. thats... thats not what his dearly beloved would do to him. did he do something?! wait- why is his love running away?!

reader is probably scared shitless. a strange man who knew my name and was grabbing me at night would 100% scare me, at least. even more so if he gave chase.

what if criminal!stone can never find a way to return back to mafia!reader tho.. hm now thats the real question.

i mean his options are either try to slowly gain readers trust.. i mean, they have the same face and very similar mannerisms so that MUST be them, right?? ... just ignore how he broke into their apartment to sleep on the couch. ("i didnt know where else to go"). guard dog acquired...? ... and a guard dog means a dog that can be also slowly eased into relaxation, into accepting safety and peace. also a trope i deeply enjoy ;)

or. well. gun emoji to the head. i guess. i mean he has to know this isnt HIS love. and whats the point of it all if he abandoned his boss, intentionally or not? and with no way in sight to get back home.. welp. goodbye cruel world moment right there

anyways my fingers are numb ive been typing for 30min and holding my phone really weird

~ rusty

Criminal!Stone: He's not my love, not exactly. But I can't just abandon him.

He's just like, it's kinda my love. They share the same DNA and thus, Criminal!Stone thinks he has to protect you like the beloved he unintentionally left in his own universe.

He does in fact sleep on your couch, you can't kick him out. He'll just come back every time. He'll gain your trust.

But I like to think Criminal!Stone ends up back in his original universe and you (the same mafia boss as always) wake up to him clinging to you. And he's convinced it was just a dream. A nightmare, if you will.

He follows you around for weeks, not wanting to wake up again in a universe where you two aren't together. No, no. You'll stay his beloved, here in this universe. He won't allow you to be separated again.

As for how he got back into his own universe, well, I've already kinda established that Serial Killer!Stone can travel between universes and he regularly does so to ensure his other Stone variants are happy and safe. So he probably saw Criminal!Stone out of his own universe and was like "Alright, I guess I'll help you get back home."

[foolishlovers]

Hi! I'm thrilled to find another fic rec blog, I'm always down to more good fics! Recently I had trouble while trying to find good fivs with D/s dinamic with sub!Aziraphale and dom!Crowley. I'll prefer longer fics (my ideal fic starts from 100k words, but at this point I'll be glad for 10k) and human au, but it's not so important, I'm more interested in good psychology, especially in Crowley figuring out what Aziraphale needs, getting him to trust him enough to let go, etc. There's a lot of fics with opposite dinamic with Aziraphale being caring dom that wants the best for his sub, and I love them dearly but I want some variety, you know? I guess fics without D/s but focused on top!Crowley pampering bottom!Aziraphale will do too (I'm desperate). Would be really grateful for any help, thanks a lot!

oh i feel you, my ideal fic starts from 100k words too sigh... here are some that i've read with that dynamic (although i can't say that i have read any that are quite that long yet):

By Any Other Name by Tartan_Temptation (18k) Aziraphale stared at his reflection. He looked pale aside from the light dusting of pink that was slowly fading from his face. His eyes looked too bright, almost fearful. His blond curls were more disheveled than usual, undoubtedly from the nervous hands that had been carding through it as the reality of his… situation hit him with all the gentleness of a punch to the face. He gripped the sides of his sink and looked his reflection in the eyes. You are a sugar baby. You have a sugar daddy. Crowley is your sugar daddy.

Mint Tea by CopperBeech (31k) Workaday clerical drone Aziraphale Fell unexpectedly comes into a cottage in the South Downs. But life is as drab as ever, and worse, a disastrous decision has left him with mint running rampant through all the beautiful plantings. It's clearly time someone got him- er, his garden - under control. A quickie of cheerful, unredeemed filth, which… grew chapters and a plot. I only work here.   “I must say I’ve never encountered anyone using a – a system like yours,” he said, facing away as if the view outside the window were entirely arresting. “I mean – it was very exciting er interesting the way you were, ah, instructing those plants as if they could – does it really get the results you want?” “Oh, gets results all right,” Crowley said. “Wouldn’t believe size things can grow to, talk to ‘em right.” This, Aziraphale considered, was accurate. The state of things inside his trousers had become genuinely alarming.

Sugar And Spice by SylWritesStuff, ladydragona (95k, WIP) Queer technology giant Anthony J. Crowley is just about ready to throw in the towel after relationship after relationship has failed, but there's a new barista at the company coffee shop and he's cute and sweet and Crowley's never been able to resist blond hair and blue eyes. The tabloids will have a field day, they always do, but his assistant is getting married and a temp is needed. A temp who really isn't very good at making complicated coffees, has past experience in reception, and absolutely no idea that the latest complicated coffee order came from the owner himself. Aziraphale only knows that he's handsome, patient, and was the first person who told him he was doing well. How could he refuse the temp position? Or, he soon discovers, more.

[You can request more fic recs here.]

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Before the new recruits say their oaths and become black brothers, Commander Mormont gave them a speech where he told them to forget their past - including their families and their houses loyalities.

"At evenfall, as the sun sets and we face the gathering night, you shall take your vows. From that moment, you will be a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch. Your crimes will be washed away, your debts forgiven. So too you must wash away your former loyalties, put aside your grudges, forget old wrongs and old loves alike. Here you begin anew.

"A man of the Night's Watch lives his life for the realm. Not for a king, nor a lord, nor the honor of this house or that house, neither for gold nor glory nor a woman's love, but for the realm, and all the people in it. A man of the Night's Watch takes no wife and fathers no sons. Our wife is duty. Our mistress is honor. And you are the only sons we shall ever know.

It is interesting to note that before becoming a black brother, Jon had denied being a Stark twice. The first time was on the very first chapter, where Jon after discovering the direwolves he convinced his father to keep them. Since the direwolves were only five, he selflessly removed himself from getting a pup so all his nobleborn siblings would get one. He explained his behavior by saying that he wasn’t a Stark in name:

Their father understood as well. "You want no pup for yourself, Jon?" he asked softly.

"The direwolf graces the banners of House Stark," Jon pointed out. "I am no Stark, Father."

Later on when he was already at the Wall, he started having wolf dreams. On these dreams he also denied being a Stark:

And then I find myself in front of the door to the crypts. It's black inside, and I can see the steps spiraling down. Somehow I know I have to go down there, but I don't want to. I'm afraid of what might be waiting for me. The old Kings of Winter are down there, sitting on their thrones with stone wolves at their feet and iron swords across their laps, but it's not them I'm afraid of. I scream that I'm not a Stark, that this isn't my place, but it's no good, I have to go anyway, so I start down, feeling the walls as I descend, with no torch to light the way. It gets darker and darker, until I want to scream."

That isn’t to say that Jon doesn’t love his family. He does love them dearly and that’s why he was about to dissert and go aid his brother on his war campaign when he found out about his father’s fate on Kings Landing. However, loving some people doesn’t mean you always belong with them. He never felt Winterfell was his home in the way the rest of his siblings felt because he wasn’t totally welcomed there. He wasn’t accepted by everyone (and the fact that the Lady of the Castle with all her authority didn’t want him there made it worse).

Likewise, he never felt totally a Stark in the sense that his siblings felt. He dreamed as a child that he would do something so brave that his father would give him Ice as a reward (it was father’s approval he yearned for and a wish for Ned Stark to ackwoledge him as an equally worthing child as the rest of his siblings).However, he knew that it was only a dream which wouldn’t happen and he was painfully aware that he would always have a below status than the rest of his family. 

He wasn’t a true Stark..had never been one, but he could die like one.

Jon never truly belonged in Winterfell. So when he was forced to join the Night’s Watch,he hoped to find his place in the world there. Somewhere he could belong. He found people he was close to but unfortunetely the tragic event at the end of ADWD shattered the illusion of another place he almost belonged.

[messandahalf10]

A Dog Called “It”

Audience: General Audiences

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 4958

Excerpt:

Merlin stands across the living room from Arthur, eyes stormy and arms crossed stubbornly across his chest. Arthur is trying to give the brunet his best pleading, puppy dog eyes. However, needless to say, they weren’t getting him anywhere. Merlin, when his mind was made up, was quite possibly the most stubborn man alive. Second only to maybe Arthur himself, at times.

"Merlin,” Arthur says his name slowly, hoping to calm the electric feeling in the air between them (and decidedly not the good, fun kind), “please just try and see it from my side." He will admit that he is not above begging, not when this must be the hundredth time they have had this very conversation. Merlin’s eyes harden even more, jaw jutting out as he clenches his teeth. And Arthur just knows, deep in his bones, that he will eventually lose this fight. Doesn’t mean he’ll back down easy, though.

"And what side is that, Arthur?" Merlin asks, spitting the blond’s name out like it was poison. Arthur had flinched the first time he had said it like that, but now that it has been spat out venomously like that for what was probably the twelfth time, he was sadly used to it now. "The side where you support pet stores who get puppies from puppy mills and over price them for profit? The same ones who in turn support euthanasia of unwanted dogs in shelters? Is that your side?" He throws his hands up in frustration, voice getting louder the longer he talks.

Arthur digs his fingers into his hair, pulling on it harshly as his temper finally flares. "Of course not, Merlin! What the hell is wrong with you?" He growls. He was very quickly reaching the end of his patience. He loved Merlin dearly, but he did not appreciate having his character judged so harshly, especially when he knows that Merlin knew better. Merlin, to his credit, doesn't so much as blink at Arthur’s now obvious desire for a fight. "I'm merely trying to get you to see that we are not necessarily equipped to handle a rescue dog. We're both gone all day at work, and while I have a fairly active lifestyle, it usually involves hitting the twenty-four hour gym on my way home from the office, not walking a dog in the dark. I'm simply trying to suggest that getting a possibly abused or otherwise previously mistreated dog could be a complete and utter disaster!" While his voice has risen in volume as their argument has gone on, Arthur has tried his best to keep himself from flat out yelling at his boyfriend. He had vowed to himself when they had met that he would never treat Merlin the way his own father had treated him. Right now, however, all he really wants to do is cross the living room and try to shake some sense into him.

[thousand-winters]

What are your favourite tlh characters and why?

Hi there! ✨

If you have seen my blog the past few weeks, you probably can guess some of them, but here we go:

Grace

I feel like Grace is one of the most complex characters we've ever gotten in TSC and it feels like such a breath of fresh air. Don't get me wrong, I am perfectly aware that these are YA novels, so I generally don't expect the books to be super amazing, I know what I'm signing up for, but that's precisely why I like her so much. Her personality is very unlike other female characters we've gotten in the series and I don't mean that in a "not like other girls" sense but in the sense that it caught my attention immediately, because CC doesn't have the best track of giving her girls gray morality without treating them like they suck for that.

I guess I was always curious about her? Even in CoG she gave the impression she was more than she seemed, and reading her backstory in CoI just made me hurt for her and root for her to have a happy ending after so much misery. There's something really satisfying about characters that have faced so much hardships finally getting a chance to simply be.

Alastair

Oh, boy. When I first read CoG and I read about Alastair, he felt to me so much like my older brother that I loved him immediately. It helped that I found his snark incredibly funny. However... as I kept reading TLH, he actually started reminding me of, well, myself. For many reasons, but let's not get too personal here, haha, let's just say I found his flaws, his struggles, and his stubbornness to go on in spite of that very relatable. How could I not love him deeply and dearly?

Aside from my biased reasons, I also find that his character is written very consistently and I loved his character arc (I stand by how simplistic some things felt in COT, but even so), how he had his highs and his lows, that was very nicely done. He also feels like a complex character because he's allowed to fuck up badly and it doesn't get swept under the rug, though I would say they go the other way with him and Grace by being too harsh, but I'll take my wins where I can.

Christopher

Oh, Kit, sweet Kit, you were the best of them all. Christopher is such a great character because, while mostly ignored the first two books, he's endearing practically without trying. CC's books have this thing where sometimes they try to convince you a character is likable for X reasons and it simply doesn't work for me that they tell me that I should love a character.

Christopher doesn't have that problem, they kinda present him to you as this klutzy nerd, but he's so much more than that. His logic helps him be the most compassionate and kind from the group, no matter what the narrative tries to tell you. He's perceptive, he's fair, he's fun. Who doesn't like Christopher even if he isn't their favorite? He knows what he is and what he wants and he follows through with it, he's such a pillar of the group that passes unnoticed because he's always in the background, but by the gods, he's so good.

Honorary mentions

Thomas and Ari.

I adored Thomas in CoT, though I must admit he doesn't spark my curiosity and excitement quite like the other three did, in the way that I would get immediately engaged the second I saw their names on the page. Nothing wrong with him, just my personal preferences, but he was truly funny and sweet and I quite liked that!

Ari... I do like her, in a way, I wanted to like her so bad, but she's trapped as the love interest in Anna's narrative, and given that I have no love for Anna's character or their pairing, it was hard for me to enjoy her appearances. She didn't have a chance to shine on her own, but when I think of all the ramifications of her story, I swoon a little. She could be so interesting.

[nickywrites]

My entry for @valvertweek!

I went for a fluffy (possibly downright tooth-rotting) untitled one-shot about Post-Seine Valvert with the theme “constellation” and some random musical references. My anxiety’s been trash lately so I’m just going to post it before I chicken out of it.

For much of Javert’s life, the stars were a reminder— a warning. Stay in your place. For if you fall, like Lucifer… They had been a comfort and reassurance. By the stars, he knew that he was faithful and true, and would be always. Then there had been the Seine, and the stars had had no pity for him, but looked down upon him in judgment.

The stars had taken on an entirely new meaning after he’d found himself falling in love with Jean Valjean.

It had been March of 1834— and Valjean had just received his pardon. Those days stood out vividly in Javert’s memory; Valjean had been simultaneously overjoyed and terrified, completely at a loss of what to do with himself now that he was a free man under the law. Over the next several months, Valjean had transformed, like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. Happiness became him beautifully. But this had been before that transformation. This had been back when Valjean was much more vulnerable. And Javert had been dearly, desperately in love with him, and absolutely clueless of what to do about it.

~~~

“I must confess I feel… lost,” Jean said. “It’s been so long…” He didn’t elaborate further, sinking into a melancholy silence.

They were outside, sitting on the garden wall— a favorite spot of Jean’s after darkness had fallen. It was a warm night, and the skies were clear. So, as he often did on such nights, Javert looked up. He couldn’t quite explain what drove him to speak— the stars seemed to drive him into a sort of lunacy where he said things he ordinarily wouldn’t.

“I have always been… fascinated by the stars, you might say. When…” He paused, the words catching in his throat. “When I was very small, my mother would show them to me. We— we could not see much, through the bars, you know, but she would point out what she could, and tell me their names, and she had stories about the shapes they made. That one, there,” he said, pointing upwards towards one of the constellations, “she called Orion, the hunter. And there, Ursa, the bear, and her little cub, whose tail is the North Star.”

“It has an awfully long tail for a bear,” Jean pointed out.

“She said that God had picked the two bears up by their tails and pulled them into the sky, and their tails got all stretched out.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

“That one— the North Star— was always my favorite. It stays there, fixed and constant, while all the other stars rotate around it in their courses. But now…”

“And now?” Jean prompted after several moments of silence.

“I have… I used to strive to be like that. Never-changing, unmoving. You know how that ended,” Javert said, now beginning to feel a little awkward.

Jean tipped his head back to gaze at the sky himself. “They are beautiful. Could you tell me more about them? You seem to know much more than I do.”

“After Daia passed— Daia. That’s what I used to call her. It means ‘mother,’ in her— in our language…” He stopped again, and took a deep breath; these were not memories he had allowed himself to revisit in quite some time. “After Daia passed, they put me out on the streets. I was lucky— the other gamins of Toulon found me amusing, and taught me how to be one of them. And I was afraid I would forget about my Daia, so I talked about her to the other boys. After a while they said, ‘Alright, Javert. Your maman’s dead, you have to learn to live with that.’ So I stopped talking about her, but I still told her stories. I told them all about the stars, and the constellations… I could go in about them for hours. And I did, until so was a bit older and I realized nobody wanted to listen for hours, so I stopped.”

“I’d listen to you talk about the stars for hours.”

“Yes, and that is because you have the patience of a saint.”

“Your mother loved you very much, didn’t she?” Jean asked, sounding strangely sad.

“Yes, I suppose she did.”

“How old were you… when…”

“It was consumption, that got her… I was six.”

“So it’s been over forty years, since someone told you they loved you.”

“…Yes. I suppose it has.”

They were silent for a while, gazing up at the sky.

Javert stole glances at Jean, feeling a bit like a schoolboy with a crush. Jean’s white hair gleamed in the dim light of the street lamps; he looked as if he were wearing a halo made of the stars themselves. Oh, I’m in so much trouble… he thought to himself. Somehow, he had no doubt that, if he only asked, Jean would take the very stars from the sky and give them to him.

Before his rationality took over again and stopped him, Javert spoke. “I used to look at the stars and think about you.”

“Oh?” Jean answered.

This was a bad idea. This was an absolutely horrible idea. Jean would be disgusted— would never want to see him again— “I used to swear that I would find you, someday. I told myself, back then, that it was because I wanted to arrest you. No other reason. That the yearning I felt was just a desire to see you back where I thought you belonged. I didn’t know— I think a pet of me realized, after the barricades. I realized that I sympathized for you. That I… cared about you. And I couldn’t bear it, so… I jumped. But I still didn’t understand it, not really. It wasn’t until that day, when you took me out into your garden…”

“What do you mean?” Jean asked, leaning in to hear Javert’s lowered voice.

“I—“ They were very close. Without thinking, Javert leaned in and closed the distance between them. The kids lasted for barely half a second before he realized what he was doing and abruptly shoved himself away from Jean.

“I swear, I didn’t mean to—“ he stammered. He slid down off the garden wall, landing on the little stone path with a thud. Wringing his hands, he turned away from Jean and prepared to flee. “I just— I’m sorry— you were just— you’re so— I didn’t think— I am so—”

Just as he was about to escape out the gate, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder. He turned back, confused; Jean pulled him in, clinging to him and crushing his lips to his. It all happened so suddenly— he felt as though he were drowning— and then his hands found Jean’s waist and wrapped around him tightly, and he felt his eyes flutter shut, and all that mattered in the world was them.

After what felt like years of this rapture, Jean gently pulled back. They stood together, foreheads touching; Javert could hear Jean breathing heavily, and was certain that his own pounding heartbeat was audible.

“I wanted to tell you— but I didn’t know how,” Jean murmured. Javert opened his eyes to see Valjean’s staring back at him with something ineffable in them; his lips were ever so slightly swollen and Javert felt he would fall to his knees at the sight.

“Tu es… tu es comme une étoile. Tu es mon étoile,” he breathed, and it felt like a prayer.

Jean nestled his head on Javert’s shoulder. “Je t’aime.” They both shivered.

~~~

After that, Jean had been determined to never let a day go by without telling Javert he was loved. Javert felt much the same. Soon, they both learned to say “I love you” without being afraid of the sky falling down around them. And even if the stars did fall in flame, everything would be alright.